Soil structure

This is the geometric arrangement of solid parts of the soil with respect to one another.

The trype of soil structure a soil had depend on the particle size and the mode of formation.

Movement of water and air are significantly influenced by the type of soil structure present

Types of soil structure

a) Single graine structure

This ype of stricture is found in coarse grained soil which are cohesion less and make up soil like gravel
and sand.

This typte of strtucture in formed when particles get deposited and they acquire an equilibrium position
each particles being in contacts with the surrounding particles. The arrangement of these soil particles in
their deposition gives the loose or dense structure

The grains forming the structure settle using gravitational force rather than surface force

The particles are not are not spherical in nature but their void ration is in between 0.35-0.90. The void
ratio of the soil to be used in engineering is required to be minimum since the loose soil are unstable
and cannot withstand against vibration and shocks

b) Homogenous soil structure

This type of structure is formed with soil which contains 0.02-0.002 mm particle size which are generally
fine and silts

This type of soil settle on the ground and the particles attract each other and joins one with another to
form a bridge of particles . The attraction of particles is due to cohesion between them due to the size of
soil particles. The soil Is loose in nature due to the large void formed the brdge formed

This type of sol structure is limited for static load conditions since they cannot resist vibrations and
shocks under building and may lead to large deformations to the structure

c) Flocculated soil structure

This type of structure is present in clay particle which have large surface area. This type of soil structure
if formed when there is net attatrctive force between the charged particles which have positive charge
on the edge and negative charge on the surface of the particles . The positive charged particles attarctd
towards negatively charged faces which results to formation of the structure. This type of soils are found
to have high shear strength

The void ratio is high in this type of soil because of the edge to face orientation. Water contents is
optimum and they are light weight and the compressibility is very low
Dispersed soil structure

This type of structure occurs in clay particles when the clay is remolded

The remolding occurs it reduce the shear strength of the soil which in turn reduces the net attractive
force between the particles

The edge to face orientation turns into the face orientation due to the repulsion

This type of soil structure is highly compressible and less permeable. The process of the soil to remain
back its streaght which was lost during remolding is known as thixotropy.

Clay matrix soil structure.

This type of structure occurs in composite soils but the amount of the clay particales or fine grained
particles is more compered to coarse grained particles.

Coarse particles in this soils are separated with each other as they are less in quality. This type of soil is
very stable in nature and it has same properties of an ordinary clay deposite

Coarse grained skeleton soil structure

This type of structure is present in composite soil which contains both fine and coarse grained particles.
The structure is formed when the amount of coarse grained particles grained particles is high than the
fine-grained particles

A skeleton like structure by the coarse grained particles and the void between them are filled by fine
grained of claley particles. The structure has a good results against heavy loads when undisturbed and
the strength extensively reduce when disturbed

Traceability properties of the region can be determined and can help in designing road ways

Water quality and surface run-off can easily be determined

Soils stop stability test can be conducted smoothly

Water movement on soil surface and the water retention in the soil properties of water soil surfaceare
CACO3 and sesuio iii oxide

Formation of soil structure

Soil structure may be present either single individual grains or aggregates i.e group of particles bound
together into granules or compound partcles . These granules or compound particles known as
secondary particles.A majority of particles in a sandy or silty soil are present as single individual grain
while clayey soil they are present in granulated conditions . The individuals particles are usually solid
while the aggregate are not solid but they posees a porous or spongy character